Unrequited Dreams of the Gifted

I was wandering around in my memory this weekend when I came across this music which I had totally forgotten about. I suspect there was a reason for forgetting about it, namely that when I played this particular song, it was rather cathartic and painful. As soon I read the lyrics, I understood why. This song could be the theme song for the undiscovered or frustrated gifted, or more importantly, the unfulfilled dreams of a gifted person. Although this song implies an old age retrospective, this retrospective could occur at any age. One thing common to all gifted people, I think, is the intense dreaming when we are young about what the future could be and what our role in it will be. Heck, that dream landed me in Silicon Valley, the place where dreams can become reality (if you can find that infinite pool of money to back you). The trouble is that when your dreams meet the constraints of life and then are stirred by gifted perfectionism, that toxic brew can be quite discouraging. While anything might be possible when you start out your life, in some ways, as you progress your way towards becoming an adult, those choices narrow. At some point, usually during college, you realize that indeed might not be able to go to the moon in your lifetime. Even more likely for the gifted is that our many interests lead us down many trails. We run into trouble when we stop and take stock, realizing we haven't been down any trail very far.


Here is the lyrics for the song. It is called "Day after Day" by The Alan Parson's Project from their "I Robot" album. Read the lyrics and see if they resonate for you. I'm pretty sure that the character "Syon" in my book probably had his foundations in this song.
Syon does have stars that appear and disappear in front of his eyes and he is able to bend and change the course of time. His talents is what I think every gifted person wishes they had. One lifetime is simply not enough.

Gaze at the sky
And picture the memory
Of days in your life
You knew what it meant to be happy and free
With time on your side

Remember your daddy
When no one was wiser
Your ma used to say
That you would go further than he ever could
With time on your side

Think of a boy with the stars in his eye
Longing to reach them but frightened to try
Sadly, you'd say, someday, someday

But day after day
The show must go on
And time slipped away
Before you could build any castles in Spain
The chance had gone by

With nothing to say
And no one to say it to

Nothing has changed
You've still got it all to do
Surely you know
The chance has gone by

Think of the boy with the stars in his eye
Longing to reach them but frightened to try
Sadly, you say, someday, someday

But, day after day,
The show must go on
And you gaze at the sky
And picture a memory of days in you life
With time on your side

With time on your side
(day after day the show must go on)
With time on your side
(day after day the show must go on)